"Bottom Dollars" Screenings and Discussions

Join us for screenings of the documentary "Bottom Dollars"in Raleigh, Winston-Salem, Asheville, and Greenville

Federal law allows businesses to pay people with disabilities less than minimum wage. Created in the 1930s to encourage employers to hire veterans with physical disabilities, this law gave them the chance to work in and contribute to their communities. It has expanded over time into a parallel system of employment for hundreds of thousands of people with disabilities. As a result, people with disabilities who want regular-wage work in their community are instead offered subminimum-wage work in segregated facilities.

Nearly 250,000 people are legally paid less than the minimum wage—on average, less than $2 an hour.

Rooted in Rights, a project of Disability Rights Washington, produced a one-hour documentary on sheltered workshops and subminimum wages. It also features programs that have worked to get people with disabilities into competitive employment with fair wages.